1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to aids for a temporarily or permanently disabled individual, and in particular to a crutch which at the option of the user may be stowed in a much more compact form than when in use. The invention relates to a stowable crutch whose size may be selected and simply and safely extended without additional tools. The invention also relates to a single crutch which may be fitted to the vast majority of users.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The crutches of the prior art include the common wooden or aluminum variety. Generally, such crutches have two members supporting an underarm rest support and pad with a handle disposed between the two members for the user's grip. The two members come together beneath the grip, and from there a single member extends to the ground. Such crutches have several disadvantages. To extend from beneath the user's arm to the ground, such crutches must be on the order of four to five feet in length, and a variety of sizes must generally be available to accommodate all users. Thus, whenever the user of such a crutch is sitting or reclining, the crutch must be leaned against a wall or chair, or otherwise stored. Because of the bulkiness, storage of such crutches is difficult, particularly in confined situations such as while riding in a wheelchair, sitting in an airplane seat, or sitting in a restaurant. Furthermore, such crutches, by virtue of their structure, may be adjusted only with tools such as wrenches or screwdrivers. To make such adjustments, the user must remove two or more bolts in each crutch which secure the single member to the pair of members, re-adjust the length, and re-tighten the bolts. A variety of sizes is required to fit all users of this type of crutch. Furthermore, the orientation of the handgrip and the rest support is always fixed.
One crutch which attempts to overcome the above disadvantages is manufactured by Husa Company. The Husa type crutch includes a folding joint at the intersection between the single member and the pair of members to enable the crutch to be folded in half. Although this provides some improvement in stowability, the resulting crutch is still not sufficiently small to fit comfortably in a wheelchair, or to be placed beneath the seat in a commercial airliner.
Another crutch known to me, but not necessarily in the prior art, is the Stanford crutch. This crutch is larger, less adjustable and more difficult to use. The Stanford crutch consists of a double tube or "barrel" body from which two telescoping tubes extend up and down to a rest support and a crutch tip. The crutch tip and rest support on the Stanford crutch are secured by a spring-loaded detent inside the telescoping members that engage between the body of the crutch and the telescoping member. This creates a problem in that the detent has to be first disengaged from the compact position and then engaged in each hole position until the crutch tip or rest support was extended to the proper length for the user. This method of securing the telescoping member to the body of the crutch also has the shortcoming of having the detent "lost." Since the detent is inside of the telescoping member and engages outwardly into a position hole in the body of the crutch, the detent does not engage and becomes "lost" within the barrel of the body if the telescoping member is turned even slightly while being extended. Furthermore, unless the detent is perfectly aligned with the position hole, the detent will not fully engage and the telescoping member is not secure. This makes the Stanford crutch difficult to extend quickly and required a "second look" to insure that the detent was fully engaged. The Stanford crutch also requires tools, such as a hex key wrench, to adjust the rest support orientation with respect to the handgrip. The handgrip position was also unadjustable with respect to the body of the crutch. The Stanford crutch incorporates a large number of parts and substantial assembly time.